Here are two plates that showed up at Escalon. The one on the left is original, the one of the right is a copy. I was told that there is an additional copy of the original out there that is a little different, so don't get fooled.The original is thicker metal, the porcelain is heaver. On the original, you can feel the "shelving" when you run you fingers across the face of the plate. Shelving is the different thickness' of the baked on porcelain. On the reproduction, when you run your finger across the face, it is absolutly smooth, no higher or lower areas. The Original has Brass gromets, the reproduction has alumn. gromets. Notice the difference in the colors of the back side of the plates. The originals are a whiteish color, the reproductions are a dark color, and they are smooth. The Original plate back side has little spots in the porcelain.Check out the "O" in Mellowed. The reproduction is a thinner letter than the original. (why do you suppose they did that?)Original on left.Original on left.Original brass grommetsReproduction grommets. Notice the "O" in mellowed?

I know this comes long after you asked the question, but I ran across this while searching for something else, and I'd like to offer a possible explanation for that funny "O" and "0" they used in the reproduction's "MELLOWED 100 MILLION YEARS". Mind, I can't know for sure without a closer look at both plates, but I think I can diagnose it from your images here.

The original Sinclair plate was designed by a professional who had a nice sense for the weight and placement of typography. I think the person who did the reproduction plate was not intimately familiar with the Roman alphabet.

Look at the difference in quality between his work on the dinosaur and his lettering. He understood the dinosaur image, and duplicated it fairly well. Compare that with his work on the word "MOTOR". All the letters are heavier and coarser than they were in the original. The "M" is asymmetrical. The vertical stroke of the "T" is noticeably fatter than its crossbar. The second "O" is just plain clumsy. I don't think he knew what he was seeing.

This really tripped him up in the white-on-blue slogan at the bottom. It wasn't just his use of the wrong line weight in his O's and 0's, though that error that sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm fairly sure he copied the "N" in "MILLION" from a low-resolution or deteriorated original, and couldn't tell which way it was supposed to point. His version could just as well be a backward "N" or blobby "H", as a proper "N".

I've seen this happen with other pirated designs. I cherish a cheap little souvenir voodoo doll/pincushion from New Orleans -- it's a standard tourist item there -- which was obviously pirated by a non-English-speaking manufacturer. The thing is basically a little person-shaped pincushion with various ailments and afflictions printed at appropriate spots. However, in this case the afflictions include HAIRY EAPS, HINNIS ELBOW, SIMUS TROULE, ATMLLTES FOOT, BODY DCOR, COMPULSIVE APPETIII, WATER ON THE KNEF, and, on the critter's groin, IMPORTENCI.